I ran the NYC marathon in 2004. Like you, I got in with beginner's luck on the ballot.

It was a fun race - I met a few people in the starting area, and practiced my German with some international runners on the course.

The course is famous for being mostly flat, with the hills mainly being the bridges. I especially liked the bridges, though: their columns were about the only pee-stops available during certain miles. Note: if the bridges start to shake from the rhythms of all the runners, fight back any fear of collapse and maybe even stomp a bit.

If anyone will be cheering you on from the sidelines, you'll need a very visible outfit. My wife, children, and mother-in-law weren't able to find my orange shirt among those of the 35,000 other runners, although my uncle (a long-time NYC resident and an actor) kept them entertained while driving them around all day looking for me.

If you want to run a fast race, be sure to get started with similar runners. There will be a bunch of people out there!

Thanks Carl, great tips. I thought it looked flat, I saw some posts about the last killer hill into Central Park but it looked pretty harmless - guess when you run in a city built on 7 volcanoes you get used to hills.

Re starting with folks after a similar time - I made the mistake of putting my expected time as 3:45 but I'm hoping for 3:30 now - but I'm in the slower wave. I guess it'll be just a case of going with the flow and looking for gaps?

just wanted to say good luck with the trip over there and good luck with your 3.30. it certainly looks like you've put the work in.

the 7 volcanoes comment made me look at your profile to see where you were from. i'm a wellington girl myself so also quite used to hills - and currently not a too dissimilar pace to what you are aiming for - i ran 3.46 last year and will be aiming for 3.30 at next years christchurch.

Thanks Mandy + kia ora - been doing a lot of miles in Welly this year - love going over Mt Vic south to north, and the wind turbine run, and the run out past Seatoun and round the end of the peninsular. It's running city. And less car dodging than up here.

Hey, just checked your log, saw you did Petone last year - I'm doing it in a couple of weeks - you've got it as 20.8 or so, was it measured wrong last year, is it not a true half...?

Its great isn't it. I live on the south side of Mt Vic - with my door basically opening out onto those trails.

Yes Petone was short last year - first time on a new course. This year they've acknowledged the mistake, officially measured the course and had it Athletics New Zealand sanctioned. So should all be good.

I did it last year. The new wave start is great - I didn't get jammed up once.

Take the ferry instead of the buses, you can get up and out at a reasonable hour, and it's a really pleasant way to spend your pre-race time.

If you have an idea of where the elite tent is on Staten Island, you can watch the pros come out to the start line, which is really cool.

I'd take a couple old foil blankets to Staaten Island too to keep warm/wind-protected/off the grass - I had some and when I went to my start and passed them off to other runners, they almost hugged me.

I made the mistake of giving my post-race bag to my husband rather than checking it. It was a much bigger hassle to find him afterward than to have just grabbed it from the trucks.

Finally, don't believe the rumors about the Bronx being a ghost town, there were plenty of people cheering there.

Re starting with folks after a similar time - I made the mistake of putting my expected time as 3:45 but I'm hoping for 3:30 now - but I'm in the slower wave. I guess it'll be just a case of going with the flow and looking for gaps?

This shouldn't be a problem as long as they keep the new three wave start. I put my expected time down as 4:00 or something, since I was running another marathon a few weeks earlier, but I finished in about 3:38. There was no trouble with having to dodge or weave.

I'll be there in NYC this year - I'm running for the Alzheimer's Association's team.

It will be my 2nd marathon...so I'm just going to try and avoid bonking after 18 miles and run a nice even race this time. Looking for a 4:40 or so (first marathon was 4:59:06 - and first half was 2:13, so second half was painful...)

As it gets closer, I'll post something on the general racing forum on RA and perhaps we can have a little RA meeting over in Staten Island before the race!